Apple Pay Now Accepted at All Costco Warehouses in United States

[JamieLannister]

been using samsung pay for over 2+ years at costco; nothing beats the convenience of a phone + gear s3 watch checking out at the register. Food court works just as great. Samsung pay incentives were so great back then that's why you would bother to take out your costco membership card...but these days, samsung pay isn't that great incentive anymore BUT still light years better than apple pay any day.

At the gas station would be pointless regardless of apple pay/samsung pay. The only reason you'd want to do this is with samsung pay incentives..otherwise makes zero sense with apple pay. You still have to bust out that membership card to authorize first.

Apple pay is late to the game as always since 2014 and i can't use it at mom and pop shops, local deli's, etc. Samsung pay w/MST is the best option (even if it includes lower pay out incentives these days).

But happy to see contactless payments accepted at costco officially this will just lead the way (for apple pay) but i don't see this widespread acceptance until after the next 10 years in the US.

PS- gas stations like chevron is nice but everyone needs to hop aboard this contactless system. There's just no incentives not to even if there are penalties incurred for stores using MST. But hey, liberal mentality in US. Go figure.

 

[iGeek2014]

Walgreen's App does something similar. When you hold it near the terminal, the membership card pops up. One click to enter and then another click to pay. Really smooth. Wish more stores did that.

According to Apple’s page re: Apple Pay and Rewards card it is possible to use a loyalty card/payment card in one but the store has to have it set up like that.

Mind I’m pi55ed as nowhere in the U.K. even offers such a feature... not even Boots the Chemist who Walgreen’s have a large stake in!!

 

[ErikGrim]

Living in a country where not supporting Apple Pay is the rarest of exceptions for the last three years, seeing stories like this still be "news" in 2018 is odd.

 

[jbuck777]

Meanwhile, Costco Canada has been accepting Apple Pay for a few years now in the warehouse ... but for some reason not at the gas pumps. Pumps do have contactless readers, it's just Apple Pay doesn't work. Hopefully, we can get Apple Pay at the pumps too!

Same here, been using both Apple Pay and Samsung Pay at Costco for a while... Both are accepted anywhere that has tap (which for us in Canada is pretty much anywhere!)

The Costco in my town has tap to pay at the gas pumps too... Still gotta swipe the membership card, but that's not too big of a hassle.

 

[tmiw]

Apple pay is late to the game as always since 2014

Kinda weird to say considering that Samsung Pay came out after Apple Pay.

Really, though, there are enough places accepting NFC where I live now that I could realistically switch all of my shopping to them and almost never insert a card again (YMMV, of course). The bigger question should be, why aren't people doing it en masse?

 

[kjvmartin]

I just paid for gas at Costco yesterday. You need to swipe the membership card first, then use Apple Pay.

That's useless if you have the Costco Visa. Once you swipe your Costco Visa membership card it lets you apply the payment from that swipe.

 

[ActionableMango]

I find it harder to find a reason why I should have to pay a membership fee for the privilege of buying their own cheap house brand.

The gas prices are justification enough for me.

Also the $4.99 rotisserie chicken.

 

[inkahauts]

been using samsung pay for over 2+ years at costco; nothing beats the convenience of a phone + gear s3 watch checking out at the register. Food court works just as great. Samsung pay incentives were so great back then that's why you would bother to take out your costco membership card...but these days, samsung pay isn't that great incentive anymore BUT still light years better than apple pay any day.

At the gas station would be pointless regardless of apple pay/samsung pay. The only reason you'd want to do this is with samsung pay incentives..otherwise makes zero sense with apple pay. You still have to bust out that membership card to authorize first.

Apple pay is late to the game as always since 2014 and i can't use it at mom and pop shops, local deli's, etc. Samsung pay w/MST is the best option (even if it includes lower pay out incentives these days).

But happy to see contactless payments accepted at costco officially this will just lead the way (for apple pay) but i don't see this widespread acceptance until after the next 10 years in the US.

PS- gas stations like chevron is nice but everyone needs to hop aboard this contactless system. There's just no incentives not to even if there are penalties incurred for stores using MST. But hey, liberal mentality in US. Go figure.

This isn’t about anything other than money in the US. Apple Pay isn’t late to anything. No one is running away with anything yet in this game. I’m just glad currentc got killed before it even launched.

 

[swooshdave]

At my CostCo, they only accept Visa. I have a Mastercard I'd prefer to use and it is setup in Apple Pay. Does that now mean that Costco will accept my Mastercard if used via ApplePay? Or can they limit to Apply Pay only using Visa cards on the back end?

You cannot use ApplePay with a MasterCard card at Costco. Which is of course what I have. You can still use a MasterCard debit card at Costco.

 

[MacBebe]

As a shopper, it doesn’t benefit me due to the fact that my Visa card is my membership card. But I’ll still use ApplePay just because it benefit me as an AAPL investor, lol.

 

[Tytygh]

"Google Wallet"

What is with these people? The service has been renamed to Google Pay for about a year now. Can they not perform a simple search to check the name?

 

[deeddawg]

Waiting for the day that I can use my phone to actually walk into a Costco instead of having to carry another card around in my wallet.

Yep. Though I find just flashing any card that's sorta grey or blue does the job when I want a hot dog and don't have my costco card with me.

Sams Club is ahead of them though.

Not only do I have the ability to show my card from their app, but I can also scan stuff as I put it in my buggy and checkout from within the app. Completely skipping the checkout lines. Click a button in the app and show the barcode to the door person. They scan it, count the items in my buggy, and I'm out the door while everyone else is waiting in line.

 

[Tytygh]

Finally making progress. Now let's get Publix onboard. Target and Walmart would be nice too, but with their barcode/QR things I know it's a longshot.

They've been testing it at ONE Virginia location for a year or so now.

 

[TomMcIn]

In British Columbia Canada, Costco Cards use the Capital One MasterCard. Capital One is so backward they don't support Apple Pay, are studying the issue and don't have any plans to implement it. Many comments on their web site ask about Apple Pay and get the same "boiler plate" replay. Canadian Tire MC works fine on Apple Pay but suspect the awards are not as good and the Capital One card.

 

[RustyIron]

This is spectacular. After Citibank made their decision to punish their law abiding customers who sold guns, I've been trying to decide whether to cancel my Costco membership or just pay for everything with cash. Now I can still shop at Costco, and not give a dime to Citibank.

 

[liberte1776]

My thoughts exactly. Still can’t stroll in having forgotten my wallet. Not super thrilling, tbh.

You can always just walk in through the exit. LOL

 

[MacManiac1]

Sadly, it will be rejected...I'm in the same boat.

I use my debit card all the time at Costco and it is a MasterCard. I suspect you are correct if it is a credit card, but it is ok for debit card.

 

[usarioclave]

It's funny, Costco has one of the fastest chip reader implementations I've used, so speed isn't an issue.

Can you use it at the cafe?

 

[Robert.Walter]

been using samsung pay for over 2+ years at costco; nothing beats the convenience of a phone + gear s3 watch checking out at the register. Food court works just as great. Samsung pay incentives were so great back then that's why you would bother to take out your costco membership card...but these days, samsung pay isn't that great incentive anymore BUT still light years better than apple pay any day.

At the gas station would be pointless regardless of apple pay/samsung pay. The only reason you'd want to do this is with samsung pay incentives..otherwise makes zero sense with apple pay. You still have to bust out that membership card to authorize first.

Apple pay is late to the game as always since 2014 and i can't use it at mom and pop shops, local deli's, etc. Samsung pay w/MST is the best option (even if it includes lower pay out incentives these days).

But happy to see contactless payments accepted at costco officially this will just lead the way (for apple pay) but i don't see this widespread acceptance until after the next 10 years in the US.

PS- gas stations like chevron is nice but everyone needs to hop aboard this contactless system. There's just no incentives not to even if there are penalties incurred for stores using MST. But hey, liberal mentality in US. Go figure.

Merchants pay no more for MST or NFC based transactions than they do with plastic cards.

The merchants trying to setup a competing system, currentC, were trying to recapture (and prevent more) fees paid to the card networks/issuers. Since the cost of credit is already priced into products, merchants have tried to avoid contactless or developed in competing systems so that they can increase their profit margins.
[doublepost=1534825291][/doublepost]

You can always just walk in through the exit. LOL

Put a pdf scan of your cards in your notes.

 

[benji888]

Meanwhile, Costco Canada has been accepting Apple Pay for a few years now in the warehouse ... but for some reason not at the gas pumps. Pumps do have contactless readers, it's just Apple Pay doesn't work. Hopefully, we can get Apple Pay at the pumps too!

I never understand these MacRumours articles about stores in America accepting Apple Pay. It's up to the banks, and once they're on board, your contactless debit/credit card is on your phone... Then you just tap your phone instead of your card when you pay at a store? Why does the store get a say in the US? Is it a competition thing like Samsung pays some chain not to take Apple or something? But even still, the contactless payment terminals don't know the difference do they?

(Genuinely asking as I'm sure the answer is probably really obvious and I'm just misunderstanding something, please be gentle in reply!)

This paragraph >, and below:

Many merchants in the US don't use the terminal software that their payment processor provides, so there could actually be significant work involved to implement contactless payments--especially if the POS requires updates too. Since it's not actually required by the payment networks (unlike EMV, which theoretically has a financial penalty for not implementing), some simply won't bother unless a lot of customers start demanding it.

​

The Costco I shop at in Australia, has always had Tap and go enabled so I have been using Apple Pay for ages. Comes in really handy in the food court

Living in a country where

not supporting Apple Pay is the rarest of exceptions for the last three years, seeing stories like this still be "news" in 2018 is odd.

While many other countries already had EMV/chip cards in use for years, you probably already had NFC terminals and Apple Pay was easy to implement, here in the good OLE USA (ole means old, here as in old-fashioned), when Apple started Apple Pay, most merchants still had only mag stripe card readers, so, we've had to catch up and implement EMV/chip cards...and while, most of the time, merchants include NFC in these new terminals, they don't all have it, and if they do, read indented paragraph above.

Part of the reason it has taken so long for US to adopt EMV/chip cards, is because of fear of "big brother" or some religious fear about the "mark of the beast". No I am not kidding. There has actually been push back because of this.

Some retailers have also not wanted to implement Apple Pay because they wanted to implement a system, like MCX's CurrentC, which was, among other things, to be integrated into a loyalty system that tracks all activity, and is similar to google where the customer becomes the product, and they can use that information and share that information.

Merchants pay no more for MST or NFC based transactions than they do with plastic cards.

The merchants trying to setup a competing system, currentC, were trying to recapture (and prevent more) fees paid to the card networks/issuers. Since the cost of credit is already priced into products, merchants have tried to avoid contactless or developed in competing systems so that they can increase their profit margins.

But, if it doesn't cost more, than why do you say it does?

It's more about privacy. With CurrentC the customer is the product, they take your information and use it and share it, maybe even sell it, read my last paragraph above. AND where with Apple Pay your payment card is stored privately in your device, with CurrentC, (and most other ways), it would be stored in their cloud.
[doublepost=1534827206][/doublepost]...It took major credit card system hacks for the US to smarten up and implement EMV/chip cards. (We can be so slow sometimes for being a "new" country.)

 

[KnighsTalker]

I've been trying to use Apple Pay with my Wells Fargo Visa Debit at Costco for 2 weeks now and it keeps failing. The staff is unsure as to why it's not working. They ventured a guess that my card wouldn't work because it wasn't Costco's Visa. I explained to them that it was a debit card and that Costco excepts all debit cards. They then postulated that maybe their system didn't except Apple Pay and debit cards. I said that didn't seem right and asked a manager to check on it. I've yet to hear back from them about it.

 

[eoblaed]

Finally making progress. Now let's get Publix onboard. Target and Walmart would be nice too, but with their barcode/QR things I know it's a longshot.

I keep holding out hope that Target will let ApplePay in, but yeah, with them pushing their "let us track you with your purchases" red card, I don't see them doing it any time soon, sadly.

 

[cub850G2]

I've been trying to use Apple Pay with my Wells Fargo Visa Debit at Costco for 2 weeks now and it keeps failing. The staff is unsure as to why it's not working. They ventured a guess that my card wouldn't work because it wasn't Costco's Visa. I explained to them that it was a debit card and that Costco excepts all debit cards. They then postulated that maybe their system didn't except Apple Pay and debit cards. I said that didn't seem right and asked a manager to check on it. I've yet to hear back from them about it.

Well that sucks are you trying to run it as debit? As I heard Apple Pay does not work when run as debit. It should still work perfectly if ran as credit.

 

[jlwarlow]

I just like the fact that big chain companies have adopted Apple Pay, and continue to be adopted, making it more available in retail stores nationwide. The only problem is most of the time, customers and employees alike are not aware of this feature on their terminals. I still get weird "how did you do that?" looks from cashiers and people behind me in line. I read through the availability list once in a while to see if the stores I'll be visiting are using Apple Pay. This should be on Apple to promote it heavily or incentivize companies that have it to promote it so more people are aware of it. At least they are going in the right direction with it.

When I first started using Apple Pay on my Watch I felt like I was stealing the groceries as I wasn't pulling my wallet out to pay. I think people though the same thing. I still get funny looks when I ask to pay contactless/Apple Pay and they're waiting for me to pull my card out while I wait for the PED to show the total + contactless symbol so I can pay.

 

[BruiserB]

As a shopper, it doesn’t benefit me due to the fact that my Visa card is my membership card. But I’ll still use ApplePay just because it benefit me as an AAPL investor, lol.

It is still a benefit as you can do the ApplePay scan with your phone while the cashier rings up and still has your membership card/credit card sitting on their terminal. Then you don't have to wait to insert/wait/retrieve your card when they are done scanning. I also have been mostly using my Fidelity Visa card at Costco since it gives 2% back immediately instead of making me wait a year for the check. Now I can scan by ApplePay right away and the transaction completes more quickly at the end.